Posted on 08/22/2009 2:35:27 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Celebrations at Bomber's Return to Libya Stir Angry Response; White House Calls the Reception 'Outrageous and Disgusting'
LONDON -- The government of Scotland found itself scrambling Friday to control political fallout from a decision to flex its independence by releasing a Libyan man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Television footage of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi welcoming home Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, and a crowd of Libyans waving Scottish flags has fanned anger about the release.
He was allowed to travel to Libya on Thursday despite demands from victims' family members and a host of U.S. officials that he spend his last days in prison. Both U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced the celebrations, with the latter calling them "outrageous and disgusting."
In an interview with BBC radio, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he didn't think the decision to release Mr. al-Megrahi would tarnish Scotland's reputation or hurt its long-term relations with the U.S. "Our relationship with America is a strong and enduring one," he said. "It doesn't depend on always reaching agreement."
The Scottish Parliament has been called back from its summer recess to debate the matter, and on Monday Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill will appear before it in Edinburgh to explain why he made the decision to free Mr. al-Megrahi. Among the questions he is likely to face: why Mr. al-Megrahi was released when other seriously ill U.K. inmates -- such as Myra Hindley, a convicted child murderer with heart problems who requested early release several years ago -- died in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
the world sucks when all the big people are spineless.
The good folks of Scotland should be ashamed of their govt.
For shame.
I’m more troubled by the big reception in Libya than I am in the release. This means the crazy in Libya is feeling his oats again. He had gotten quiet after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.....he apparently thinks us impotent again.
..why was a man who was sentenced to die in jail released to die somewhere else?
Who cares if he is sick? - his victims?
The best part of the Scots people left centuries ago for America. What remained in Scotland might as well be French.
.....he apparently thinks us impotent again
Were I in his position, I would think exactly that.
Hussein is not going to lift a finger against him and his public remarks are cheap PR.
On an earlier post about this outrage, a poster asked the question of what would Reagan have done. I didn’t respond in that thread but after further thought, I think he might have arranged for a special greeting at the airport in Libya. In my fantasy, it would have been shiny and gold and delivered at about 2800 fps...that’s the definition of a “terminal illness”.
Obviously we are. Look who our President is.
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, believed to have less than three months to live, was released on the order of Scotland’s justice minister despite strong opposition from the United States, which had campaigned to keep him in prison.
“He is a dying man, he is terminally ill,” Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill told reporters in explanation. “My decision is that he returns home to die.”
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/kenny_macaskill/contact.htm#message
More about this creep:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/kenny_macaskill/index.htm
You knew something like this was going to happen when the U.S. allowed the trial to be held in Scotland. The U.S. also suppressed all law suits by the Lockerbie victims against the govt of Libya — all done in the name of trade.
The most ignorant person in any cuntry could have predicted this guy returning to a hero’s welcome.
IMO the guy who is responsible for turning him loose should be fired immediately.
This is great, they release the guy back to the terrorist sympathizing country he comes from
THEN they decide to talk about what they did..
WTF were they thinking in the first place.
Gadhafi welcomes the mass murderer back to his loony bin; Castro welcomes Elian Gonzales, whose mother gave her life for his freedom, back to the gulag, and now a Communist, Chicago thug, Muslin Kenyan sits in our White House.
Can anyone doubt that the wicked run this world?
LLS
“The good folks of Scotland should be ashamed of their govt.”
Most of them didn’t vote for it. The current Scottish National Party administration only has a plurality of one vote in the devolved Parliament, and has two extra votes from the Greens.
The Parliment has 73 constituency (district) seats. It also has 56 seats selected by proportional representation.
The SNP only got 32.9 percent of the vote for the 73 district seats, and 31 percent of the vote for the 56 proportional representation seats.
Distribution of Seats: Total (district seats , proportional representation seats)
SNP: 47 (21, 26)
Labour: 46 (37, 9)
Conservatives: 16 (4, 12)
Liberal Democrats: 16 (11, 5)
Green Party: 2 (0, 2)
Presiding officer*: 1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament#Results_in_2007
*The Presiding Officer was elected as a Conservative but acts as a non-partisan referee.
Not really- like the majority of victms's family in Britain (Not the US), there was never a blief he was guilty, just that he was scapegoated. It's interesting to see how many of the Brit families are angry only because it means they don't get to see the eivdence properly re-examined. The conviction was always one of convenience. He was a thug who deserved time yes. Did he do Locherbie - possibly not, but certainly not adequately proven when the evdence is looked at.
As someone of Scottish ancestry who lived in Edinburgh for a while years back I am deeply ashamed of my ancestral homeland.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.